The BlueDog is still chomping on the latest Field Poll released last week about the California Legislature’s appalling approval ratings from the very people it purports to serve. To realize just how truly abysmal the numbers are, let’s put them into a broader, more historical context of polling “lowlights”:
| Governor Schwarzenegger | 33% |
| George W. Bush | 29% |
| Gray Davis | 25%* |
| Richard Nixon | 24% |
| Harry Truman | 22% |
| California Legislature | 14% |
It’s a jaw dropping perspective. Can it get any worse? Unfortunately, the answer is probably yes, especially if we peer into the mind of the legislators themselves.
“You know, the Legislature is generally unpopular, but people tend to like their own legislator, ” Senate Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg said in Kevin Yamamura’s coverage of the poll in the Sacramento Bee.
The BlueDog about choked on his English muffin upon reading this. After all, Steinberg is one of the best and brightest in the Capitol. By all accounts he is as decent and dedicated a public servant as they come. While there’s a kernel of truth to his conventional wisdom, it comes across as cavalier and tone deaf. Nuancing the sentiment of 86 percent of California voters seems like a risky proposition.
This is exactly the type of mindset that insulates legislators from reality . . . along with a highly deferential workplace environment in which they are fawned over, catered to and not always told the harsh truth by those around them as they travel up and down in their own private elevators. Safe legislative districts and a broken political system only reinforce the illusion of being in sync with their constituents.
But this being a blog for Moderates, there is a one positive takeaway from the poll: the putrid view of the Legislature may be serving as a unifying bipartisan force.
“What’s remarkable about his job rating numbers is that there’s no differentiation between the two parties,” Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo told the Bee: “I can’t think of another elected official who, when getting negative ratings, scores just as poorly among his own party as among the opposing party.”
Sounds like a catalyst for reform. It won’t be long until the Legislature succeeds in flushing itself down the drain, and the 86 percent of us can commence the business of reforming California government.
* (Based on an online figure stating Davis’ approval ratings were in the “mid-20s” around time of recall election)
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